As expected, when Rory pulled back from the hug and looked at Eisen, the jackhammering of his heart did not slow. As a matter of fact, Eisen was almost positive that if his heart beat any faster he would need to be carted off to the hospital for a heart attack. However, the way that Rory was looking at him? His mind raced just as quickly as his heart had. There was something… something in his eyes. He’d call it unidentifiable, but somehow, even though Eisen hadn’t actually noticed it before, he felt like he knew what it was. Maybe he was projecting again. Maybe he was projecting his own feelings on Rory, wishing so badly for some sort of sign that he created it himself. But… No. This is… that look is…
How could I have missed it? he asked himself.
Maybe this wasn’t the appropriate time for it, but the same something… told him that maybe Rory needed it. Maybe Rory needed to know exactly why Eisen was always on his side. Aside from the whole best friend thing. It was way, way more than that. “Rory,” he stopped his best friend from talking with a gentle look. “Wait,” he whispered. “I…” he swallowed thickly, the third stumbled syllable of the sentence quickly showing him that he needed to gather his brain before he actually tried this again. “Gio told me that he kind of… told you that we talked the other day.” That was a safe start. Unless Gio had actually not told him and had just said it to get to get him to speak up, but such a move seemed… uncharacteristic of Gio. Eisen was holding out faith that he was right.
He reached out with his right hand, grabbing Rory’s left and sliding their fingers together. Maybe it was a bit of a tell about exactly what was coming next, but Eisen felt like the comfort was necessary. Both to keep Rory calm and to relax him… to remind him that this was the right thing to do. “Do you want to know what we talked about?”